Virtual Recipe Club - Potato Edition

Leek and Potato Gratin

2 1/4 pounds (about 3 large) white and pale green parts of leek, well washed, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half, scalded
1/4 cup grated Parmesan plus 2 tablespoons
1/4 cup grated Gouda plus 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard - to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium-large) russet (baking) potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a saucepan, cook the leeks in 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat, stirring, until they are softened. Add the flour and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the half-and-half, bring the liquid to a boil, and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup each of the Parmesan and Gouda, mustard, nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste.

In a separate saucepan combine the potatoes with enough water and salt to cover them by 2-inches, bring the water to a boil, and simmer the potatoes for 1 minute. Drain the potatoes.

Transfer the potatoes to a buttered 1.5-quart baking dish. Spoon the leek mixture over the potatoes, sprinkle it with the remaining cheeses, and dot the top with the remaining butter. Bake the gratin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown.

Got chicken???

It's wintertime, it's cold and flu season, that means it's time to make home-made Chicken Noodle Soup....Yummy. I had a turkey carcass in the freezer from Thanksgiving dinner, and I was craving homemade soup. Mmmm, a bowl of soup, a warm fireplace.....Ahhhh.

Having Chicken Noodle Soup around almost makes me wish I was sick...

Ingredients
1 frozen chicken (or turkey) carcass - with some meaty pieces left on it
1 package of chicken breasts and/or thighs
Carrots (3 for broth, 3 or more for soup)
Celery (3 for stock, 3 or more for soup)
onion (1/2 for stock, 1 for soup)
salt and pepper
basil (fresh or dried)
oregano (fresh or dried)
rosemary (fresh or dried)
thyme (fresh or dried)
parsley (fresh or dried)
whole peppercorns (about 8-10)
Skinny egg noodles

Chicken Broth
Thaw the chicken carcass, place into pot of water (enough to cover). Add a few carrots in large pieces about 3 or 4 inches long. Add a few stalks of celery cut about the same as the carrots. Add 1/2 an onion rough chopped. Add some of the basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns, and parsley. Bring the pot to a boil for about 1-2 hours (depending how rich you want the broth.

While the broth is cooking, preheat the oven to 350. season up the chicken breasts and/or thighs with that ever you like, and bake in the oven till done. If your grill is availalbe, grilled chicken would be wonderful in the soup. Place the chicken aside to cool.

After the broth is finished, remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Remove hte chicken carcass from the pot an place on a cutting board (if you plan on removing any meat from the bones). Strain the broth into a second pot. Throw away the veggies.

Soup Time
Chop remaining carrots, onion, and celery into small pieces. Also cut up the chicken you baked earlier. Place the pot of broth on the stove over med-high heat. allow broth to begin to boil, reduce to simmer. Then add the veggies and chicken you just cut up Let this simmer for 20 minutes (or more depending on how done you like your veggies). Once veggies are to your liking, return pot to a boil, add the egg noodles and cook for 10-12 minutes.

Remove form heat and serve.

Oh how time flies...

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've updated my blog. Boy how time flies when you're busy.

Work has been hectic as we are preparing to open a new section at one of our 5 hospitals. Working in the IT Department, we have the duty of deploying the new PC's printers prior to the areas going live. But we also have to move the existing equipment from the old areas, clean it up and re-deploy it. Moving the old equipment isn't as easy as just unplugging it and plugging it back up. Some of the departments want a few machines moved, then they'll move a few patients, then a few more machines, etc... A process that can take several hours just to move 5 machines. UGH...

Now, working in a hospital, one would think the areas around the nursing stations would be neat, clean, and sanitary.....yea, right. Pick up a PC, and you'll see a coffee spill that's months old. Or dust bunnies that could eat a '75 Cadillac Eldorado. Then look under the desk, at the mess of cables, staples, dust, tape, and other stuff. Ewwwwwwww. I've pulled out cables that looked like they had on fur coats. Surge protectors that had soda, coffee, and other unknown fluids spilled on the, and then left to collect all kinds of nastiness. Infection control would go ape-sh*t if they saw some of this mess. Not only do we have to collect these cables and remove them from the area, but most of the time, we have to clean them and reuse them where the equipment is moving.

Ok, now that you would probably never set foot into a hospital again, let me just say that it's not all that bad. I've worked in the hospital for 10 years now, and not caught anything serious.... *cough* *cough*, and I've got this growth that still hasn't been identified yet.... JUST KIDDING. Seriously, these are just small areas, where there is no way to get in there and clean it on a daily r weekly basis. If we allowed housekeeping to move the machines every few days to clean under and around them, we'd have broken equipment all over the place. Many times the house keepers can't get to these areas to clean because the nurse or doctor won't move their lazy butt 6 inches to the left or right for even a minute. And the really dirty machines are the ones on or near the floor where the fans suck up any little speck of dust and after time it just builds up. Heck look around your own PC, see any dust around it, inside it.... Yea, inside it. How many of you actually open your PC up and vacuum it out? And how many of you smoke near your PC? All of that build up, and you're only one person for a few hours a week or day. Now imagine a nurses station with 8-10 nurses (or more) per shift (3 shifts), 5-20 doctors per day, 5-50 patients, 2-4 visitors per patient, plus other hospital staff going through that area on a daily basis. It doesn't take long to build up a lot of dust.

I don't know what made me write this post, I just started typing and there it is.